Zuko Komisa

- Traces of ARV medication have been found in South African water sources.
- The DWS assures the public these residues pose no health risk and cannot transmit HIV.
- The ARVs enter the water through wastewater systems not designed to filter them out.
South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has moved to allay public concerns following a study that found traces of anti-retroviral (ARV) medication in some of the nation’s water sources.
The DWS has firmly stated that these residues pose no health risk and, crucially, cannot lead to HIV transmission.
The assurance comes after North West University’s Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management and the Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research released a report titled “Quantification, Fate, and Hazard Assessment of HIV-ARVs in Water Resources.”
The study indicated that ARVs are entering the water supply primarily via municipal wastewater treatment systems, which were not originally designed to filter out such pharmaceutical compounds. This allows residues to pass into rivers and subsequently into drinking water sources.
The report highlighted lopinavir and efavirenz as the most commonly detected ARVs, with concentrations in some areas exceeding global norms.
Despite this, the DWS, in a joint statement with the Water Research Commission (WRC), emphasised that while harmless, “prolonged exposure to the broader population may lead to antimicrobial resistance, a subject of ongoing research.”
The DWS explained that the presence of ARVs in water is a direct consequence of South Africa’s extensive HIV and AIDS treatment programme. As a result, traces of these medications are entering municipal sewage systems and then making their way into rivers.
“Pharmaceuticals such as ARVs are drugs used to treat diseases – they do not cause diseases. Therefore, the presence of traces of ARVs in the water will not result in people contracting HIV,” the department clarified.
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